Industry & Institutions perspectives: Stakeholders in the Swiss Health System

The role of this course within the Master in Communication Management and Health program is to build a bridge between theoretical and practical knowledge and help the transition university studies and future career. This will be made possible by presenting to the students particular challenges healthcare professionals had to face and by providing frame for meeting the very same professionals in person.
Since the scope of the healthcare sector is quite broad, professionals will represent different entities: from companies to NGOs, from public institutions to hospitals etc. Students will learn how to take into account interests and viewpoints of the many stakeholders in the healthcare sector. Before meeting the health care professionals, student groups will work on a particular challenge and propose ways to meet it. Professionals will then report how they met this challenge, and the case will be discussed in depth.
Objectives

1. Meet professionals from different areas of the healthcare sector;
2. Provide an overview of the challenging situations a communication expert would face while working in the healthcare sector;
3. Prepare students to plan their career and make contacts with the professional market

Course structure
The three credits will develop over seven encounters of 4 hours in Fall 2013. The first meeting will be an introduction to the work of the semester and to the methodology used for group work (case study) and discussions with professionals. During the other classes students will meet professionals from six different organizations. The four hours will be divided into three parts. In the first part the students will present their group work (case study), in the second part the professional will present the work of his/her organization, and in the last part students will discuss the case and other aspects of their work with the professional.

1. Case study presentation:
   Each organization will give students a practical case study to prepare in advance. Case studies involve students in activities of experts such as identifying decisions, justifying choices among alternatives, and evaluating the consequences of these choices. Case studies improve their ability to think critically, emphasizing the process rather than the product of problem solving. Case study papers will be prepared in groups of 2-3 students and handed in at the beginning of the class. One group will present the outcomes of their research and their recommendations at the beginning of a class.
2. Professional’s presentation
   The second part of the class will be devoted to the presentation of the professional’s organization, his/her working experience, and to provide feedback about the case study. Starting from the case study discussion, the professionals will present how they really faced the challenging situation, the current practice of the entity where he/she works, and the professional experts involved.
3. Discussion with the professional
   Beyond working on the case study, the students will have to gain knowledge, before each session, about the organization they are going to meet. This will allow for an open and meaningful discussion with professionals, where questions prepared beforehand and raised from the presentation will be asked. One student will moderate the discussion.

1. Case study papers (50% of total grade)
2. Case study presentation(25% of total grade)
3. Active participation to the seminar (25% of total grade)